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Monday, May 23, 2011

#209: Steve King

Steven Arnold “Steve” King is the U.S. Representative (Republican) for Iowa's 5th congressional district. He is Michele Bachman's chief competition for the title of most idiotic Representative in Congress (they make an apt pair, though). Among his more recent not particularly intelligent assertions is his claim that if the estate tax was allowed to increase, rich people would kill themselves on Dec. 31 in order to avoid having to pay it after they're dead.

King is, predictably, not in favor of gay marriage, arguing that “I think that if we can't defend marriage, that it becomes very hard to defend life.” Now, you may wonder what that means and how he arrived at the conclusion, and it is not entirely clear (you can read it in context here). It seems that the conclusion is arrived at through the infamous inference rule “word-salad introduction” (related to Arthur Prior’s “tonk”-operator but more obfuscatory). A similar (I think) argument is this one. He is on more familiar (but hardly more intelligent) grounds with his standard slippery slope argument that recognizing homosexuality entails recognizing pedophilia.

He has also expressed “interesting” views on topics such as racism and racial profiling, and on trying terrorists in civilian courts and granting them Miranda rights.

He also wears his theocratic sympathies on his sleeve. I think you can pretty accurately predict his views on other political matters yourself.

Steve King has also eloquently argued that Obama's forthcoming Mexico Trip will undermine US sovereignty and the rule of law. Apparently government should take extreme care to avoid any contact with any foreigner for any purpose, except through the use of drones controlled from a safe distance. There is president material in King, I'd say.

You can watch Steve King "prove" that America is a Christian Nation here. It's precisely as stupid as you would have expected. You can see more examples of King failing to understand how things work here.

When he was roundly condemned for his recent comments alleging that most young undocumented immigrants are drug smugglers, King took to the House Floor today to allege that his freedom of speech is under attack. Because criticizing King is violating his constitutional rights. You shouldn't criticize King. Indeed, according to King the attacks on him are signs that civilization will not survive, since ... well, it is a bit unclear, but at least calling out his bigotry is divisive.

Facing tough challenge from Louie Gohmert for the position of dumbest guy in Congress, King has apparently put in some effort recently, for instance with his claim that being gay is "self-professed behavior" that "can't be independently verified." Or his argument that liberals don't love America because "they don't think of this country the way I do."

And of course, like any wing nut, King is bound to repeat claims exposed as lies a thousand times. It really doesn't matter; if it fits in King's deranged system of beliefs, it'll slip right in.

He is, predictably, worried that immigrants will "erode the law further" by voting democratic (it is actually a bit interesting to try to puzzle out quite how he is thinking about the issue).

His claim that Obama should impose Christendom on Latin America like Columbus is ... yeah, I don't know what to call it.